Localized radiation sensing and reporting surfaces

Abstract

The present disclosure describes a radiation sensing and reporting devices, systems, and methods. The devices and systems are a flexible material that detects the presence of radiation over a surface area and reports the specific location and intensity of the radiation. An article is provided that includes a substrate; a plurality of radiation sensors, each radiation sensor of the plurality of radiation sensors being disposed at a corresponding position on the substrate; and alert circuitry coupled to the plurality of radiation sensors, wherein the alert circuitry indicates, in real time, a localized detection of radiation according to corresponding one or more positions on the substrate of a particular one or more radiation sensors of the plurality of radiation sensors.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An article comprising:
 a substrate; 
 a plurality of radiation sensors, each radiation sensor of the plurality of radiation sensors being disposed at a corresponding position on the substrate; and 
 alert circuitry coupled to the plurality of radiation sensors, wherein the alert circuitry indicates, in real time, a localized detection of radiation according to corresponding one or more positions on the substrate of a particular one or more radiation sensors of the plurality of radiation sensors, wherein the alert circuitry comprises a plurality of light sources, and wherein each light source is coupled to a corresponding one radiation sensor of the plurality of radiation sensors and located within a region of the corresponding position of the radiation sensor on the substrate. 
 
     
     
       2. The article of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of radiation sensors comprises optical scintillating fibers. 
     
     
       3. The article of  claim 2 , wherein the optical scintillating fibers are arranged in a mesh, wherein each radiation sensor corresponds to a defined unit area of the mesh. 
     
     
       4. The article of  claim 3 , wherein the plurality of radiation sensors further comprises at least one photodetector coupled to the mesh. 
     
     
       5. The article of  claim 4 , wherein each defined unit area of the mesh comprises two or more optical scintillating fibers in a first direction and two or more optical scintillating fibers in a second direction,
 wherein a first photodetector is coupled to one end of the two or more optical scintillating fibers that are in the first direction and a second photodetector is coupled to one end the two or more optical scintillating fibers that are in the second direction. 
 
     
     
       6. The article of  claim 5 , further comprising a third photodetector coupled to another end of the two or more optical scintillating fibers that are in the first direction and a fourth photodetector is coupled to one end the two or more optical scintillating fibers that are in the second direction. 
     
     
       7. The article of  claim 4 , wherein the plurality of radiation sensors comprises composite detectors, each composite detector comprising a scintillation detector and photodetector in a scintillator-light pipe configuration. 
     
     
       8. The article of  claim 1 , wherein the alert circuitry comprises a speaker and sound generator. 
     
     
       9. The article of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate is flexible material. 
     
     
       10. The article of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a garment. 
     
     
       11. The article of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a cloth. 
     
     
       12. The article of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a floor covering. 
     
     
       13. The article of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises at least two layers selected from the group consisting of:
 a transparent fabric layer; 
 light emitting diode substrate layer; 
 converter/graded absorber; and 
 radiation absorptive shield layer.